A new way of environmentally sustainable manufacturing with assessing transformation through the green deployment of Lean Six Sigma projects

Green deployment of Continuous Improvement (CI) projects such as Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is unknown among scholars and practitioners in contrast with green outcomes of LSS. Therefore, the aim of this study is to identify top factors to transform towards the green deployment of LSS projects as an untapped phenomenon for scholars and practitioners. A survey questionnaire was distributed globally to collect the data from LSS practitioners and consultants followed by the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) as a statistical dimension reduction method via Statistical Package for Social sciences (SPSS) software. New dimensions for critical success factors (CSFs), critical failure factors (CFFs) and barriers, and motivators were revealed to recommend top factors for green LSS project deployment. In addition to some factors similar to green LSS integration for green outcomes, we found some new factors suggested for green deployment of LSS projects. However, scarcity was also found in green LSS deployment for practitioners and scholars. Further in-depth studies including case studies could be conducted to assess the negative environmental impact of LSS projects. This study serves as an initial call for managers, consultants and research scholars to favour the sustainable deployment of LSS projects in manufacturing alongside the use of traditional approaches with a focus on costs, quality and delivery. This is the first study exposing the possibility of a paradigm shift in environmental sustainability integration with LSS project deployment in manufacturing operations.